Peter Bart, one of Hollywood’s most powerful voices, has been silenced.
The editor-in-chief of Hollywood bible Daily Variety was abruptly suspended from the entertainment trade paper while it investigates offensive remarks he was quoted making to Los Angeles magazine.
Variety’s parent company, Cahners Business Information – a division of the Dutch publishing giant Reed Elsevier – said yesterday the company is looking into the statements by Bart in L.A. mag’s September issue.
In the article, the 69-year-old Bart didn’t hold back.
The Tinseltown chronicler – who was once a top exec at Paramount studios – said there is a difference “between the people they call ‘n*****s’ – who are the ghetto blacks, who can’t even speak, can’t get a job, and bury themselves in black-itude” and those “who own the world: the black middle class.”
L.A. magazine writer Amy Wallace, who spoke with many Variety insiders, added that he peppers meetings at Variety with words like “fags,” “bitches” and “Nips.”
According to a former “Variety” reporter who spoke to the magazine, Bart once said, “I’m not hiring any more fags because they get sick and die.”
Bart was forthcoming on the topic of religion – except his own.
Wishing to avoid talking about being Jewish, Bart instructed Wallace to quote him saying he has “no problem” being Jewish. But when Wallace insisted on talking about religion, he asked if her editor is “some kind of professional Jew.”
Bart, editor of Variety since 1987, has always been known in Hollywood for his candor.
Often, in the column he pens for the trade paper, “The Back Lot,” he writes about Hollywood’s biggest players. Film makers Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, he once said, “exude about as much charisma as Wal-Mart managers.” DreamWorks’ Jeffrey Katzenberg is “hyperactive,” he wrote. And, the magazine notes, he even went as far as to describe the sounds actor-director Warren Beatty makes during “moments of sexual congress.”
The comments he makes in his columns are not what did Bart in, say his bosses at Cahners.
The statements Bart made to L.A. magazine “are clearly inconsistent with our company’s values,” said Tad Smith, the president of the media division at Cahners. Smith said that both the company and Bart agreed that he should “suspend his activities” at the paper while the company investigates.
But Smith, who judged Bart’s actions worthy of suspension, also said that Cahners’ values “require us not to prejudge Peter based on unsubstantiated allegations.”
Bart did not return calls seeking comment.
But he said in the article that he plans to sue the magazine for claiming he wrote a screenplay while writing for Variety – a no-no at the Tinseltown trade.
He told Wallace no one ever saw his script, adding, “In retrospect, I shouldn’t have done it.”
Variety staffers said yesterday the editor and his sharp tongue will be missed.
“Variety is nothing without Peter,” said one insider. “He understands Hollywood like no one else. Without him – it’s like a chicken without a head.”
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Bart blows it
Variety editor Peter Bart was suspended for shooting off his mouth in L.A. Magazine. The comments that might have done him in:
* “You talk to a lot of better-educated, wealthy black people. You know, they’re not very black. The big distinction is between people they call ‘niggers’ – who are the ghetto blacks, who can’t even speak, can’t get a job, and bury themselves in black-itude – and those people who are better looking, better educated, smarter, and who own the world: the black middle-class.”
* “I’m not hiring any more fags because they get sick and die.”